Where it Hurts

Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Reed Farrel Coleman is a fantastic writer. I read his Moe Prager series one after the other and loved each installment.

I wish I could say the same for Gus Murphy in Where It Hurts.

There is no doubt Coleman is an excellent writer. I had attempted four other mystery novels –that I had to put down because they were so badly written–before I picked up Where It Hurts. Coleman had me at page one; I knew I was in for the whole thing because of how vividly Coleman captures setting. Murphy’s inner struggles with his son’s death were brilliantly handled; the devastation at a child dying, the breakdown of a marriage, the anger, the pain…unfortunately, Gus Murphy was the only character that was given such a three dimensional character.

Aside from Gus, the other characters were indistinguishable from any other police procedural with the drug-gangs-murder trifecta. We had the dirty cops. We had the lovable losers, we had the friend with a mysterious background. We had the requisite people being shot, killed, maimed, tortured.

I’d like to see Coleman go back and start a new series focusing on what he is extraordinary with–setting and character. Leave the shoot-em up gangster plots to those with less writing talent and bring us a character driven story like the Moe Prager mysteries.